As I write this column, there is less than two hours until game one of the American League Division Series between the Tigers and Yankees starts.
This is something I should be excited about. Any day I get to root against the Yankees is like a holiday for me. Yet, I can’t focus all my mind power on wanting to see Derek Jeter take a cleat to the groin.
Hell, I’m too preoccupied with another thought to pay attention to any of the ‘TO back in Philly’ stories spreading across the internet.
(Just between you and me though, I can’t wait to see how Eagles fans greet this guy. If it’s anything like what the guys at kissmesuzy.com suspect, this is going to be the single greatest non-athletic sporting event moment ever. Trust me on this. Anyway back to the column.) The problem I’m having is that Wednesday night is the beginning of the new NHL season and I feel as if I’m one of about sixteen people in the U.S. that cares. (Oh sure the Canadians care, big deal).
I know I’m not really alone but I can’t help but feel any other way. If you’re a hockey fan you know what I’m talking about. It’s as if the league has fallen off the face of the earth.
Think about this: When was the last time SportsCenter paid any sort of serious attention to the NHL? I’m talking actual coverage, not just highlights and game scores. Can’t remember?
Well, I’ll tell you when it was. It was before the House of Mouse bought the channel and turned it into “The World Wide Leader in Sportswriter Banter,” that’s when.
Look at John Buccigross. He’s been turned into a poor man’s Scott Van Pelt. And it’s not just the World Wide Leader. When was the last real hockey piece written in Sports Illustrated that got anyone talking?And don’t answer Sidney Crosby. That wasn’t a hockey piece, that was a personal profile.
A year removed from its strike, the NHL is still about as appealing to Americans as spending a week with Richard Simmons. I’m inclined to think it’s the league’s lack of coverage, but I have a feeling it’s much more than that. Has America really forgotten about hockey? Moved past it? Or (gasp) never cared about it at all and I’m only now realizing it?
To me, the fact that I’m asking these questions is frightening. I always saw hockey as a sport that’s sheer oddity gave it its own brilliance. The Andy Kaufman of the “major North American sports world.” I’m begging to think I was wrong. But I’m also beginning to think that – like Kaufman’s humor – most people don’t get hockey.
If that’s the case, most people are stupid, or at the very least stuck in their ways. Then again it could be that all hockey fans are just weirdos. Followers of a game that makes sense to them and them alone. And as Kaufman himself would ask, “Isn’t that the point? Isn’t that what’s so great about it?”
Quickly drop the puck. There are sixteen American’s who are holding their breath.
John Snodgrass is a senior in film studies and is the Lantern’s former sports editor. He is a big hockey fan and therefore falls into that category of weirdos. He can be reached at [email protected].
